Car rental vs Minnie Van, etc?

Z-Knight

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 3, 2015
i will be coming for star wars weekend in april and want to get a ride on rise of resistance and also get to the expo... what can you recommend i do with transportation?

car rentals for 4 days from airport would be $200 plus another $60-$80 disney hotel parking. Even two day rental from disney car care is over $150.

i want to beat the disney busses to get to Hollywood studio and try to get a rise of resistance boarding pass but taking rental would add another $25 parking fee.

so is minnie van or lyft a better option at this point? will they be in high demand the morning after a 10k race? Would they be even able to drop me off at the hollywood studios or only at ticket and transportation? Meaning, the only option would likely be Minnie Van which can drop off...ughh. this so complicated
 
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If you're staying at a Disney hotel, you won't need to pay an additional fee to park at the Disney parks.

Why would you need to beat the busses to get a RoR boarding pass? The booking window opens at park opening and everyone who is in the park has the same shot of getting a boarding pass. As long as you're on an early bus you shouldn't have an issue.

Personally, I'd just use Uber/Lyft and not bother with the extra time and expense from renting a car. I've never tried using one for the races, but I have used them for early morning transport and didn't have any issue with availability. Plus, DHS's shared ride service drop-off is really close to the park entrance and I've seen a lot of people being dropped off with them in the morning.
 
If you're staying at a Disney hotel, you won't need to pay an additional fee to park at the Disney parks.

You don't have to pay a parking fee at the Disney Park if you take your rental car there? I wasn't aware of this. Is that written somewhere?

Why would you need to beat the busses to get a RoR boarding pass? The booking window opens at park opening and everyone who is in the park has the same shot of getting a boarding pass. As long as you're on an early bus you shouldn't have an issue.

Personally, I'd just use Uber/Lyft and not bother with the extra time and expense from renting a car. I've never tried using one for the races, but I have used them for early morning transport and didn't have any issue with availability. Plus, DHS's shared ride service drop-off is really close to the park entrance and I've seen a lot of people being dropped off with them in the morning.
From pictures and videos it makes it seem like getting to the park early is the only way to go to get through the turnstyles to be inside before the boarding passes are opened up. Per disney, the resort busses start running 45 minutes before park opens - which means that at best they'd get there 30, maybe less, minutes before the park. And then you are queued up with thousands of others trying to get in - especially on race weekend - so I figure that would make it tough to be inside exactly at time of boarding pass release. April hours say Hollywood would be open at 9am....I'm not sure I buy that yet, because they only recently changed from 7am to 8am opening and now it is much harder to get passes. If they delay till 9am I think it will be a mess.

Anyway, I'm just debating what is optimal....currently it would be a minimum $300 for car rental and overnight resort parking (even if parking at parks would be free for me)....vs $50 to $100 for Minnie Van rental for 3 or 4 trips. The biggest downside with Minni Van, etc is the availability that early and that weekend - I worry it will be busy.

thanks
 
You don't have to pay a parking fee at the Disney Park if you take your rental car there? I wasn't aware of this. Is that written somewhere?
From: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/parking/
"Standard theme park parking is included for registered Guests of Disney Resort hotels and select Annual Passholders. These Guests can also choose to enjoy preferred parking by paying the difference in cost between their included standard parking and preferred parking (difference is currently $20-$25 per day*)."

From pictures and videos it makes it seem like getting to the park early is the only way to go to get through the turnstyles to be inside before the boarding passes are opened up. Per disney, the resort busses start running 45 minutes before park opens - which means that at best they'd get there 30, maybe less, minutes before the park. And then you are queued up with thousands of others trying to get in - especially on race weekend - so I figure that would make it tough to be inside exactly at time of boarding pass release. April hours say Hollywood would be open at 9am....I'm not sure I buy that yet, because they only recently changed from 7am to 8am opening and now it is much harder to get passes. If they delay till 9am I think it will be a mess.

While people's mileage will obviously vary, on my last trip in January I literally had a morning that I woke up 40 minutes before park opening, decided that I might as well try for a boarding pass, had time to get dressed, re-heat coffee, walk over to DHS (I was staying at BWV), get through security (no bags) and through the turnstiles with 15 minutes to spare. They're really trying to keep it moving and get people through quickly in the morning, they weren't even scanning fingers.

Anyway, I'm just debating what is optimal....currently it would be a minimum $300 for car rental and overnight resort parking (even if parking at parks would be free for me)....vs $50 to $100 for Minnie Van rental for 3 or 4 trips. The biggest downside with Minni Van, etc is the availability that early and that weekend - I worry it will be busy.
If you don't just limit yourself to the Minnie Vans, and were open to booking either Lyft or Uber, I think you'd be fine.
 


You can get to the expo on a bus from any Disney resort, so if the only other reason you want a car is to get from Epcot to DHS after the 10k to get a boarding group, you're better off using Uber or Lyft.
 
You can get to the expo on a bus from any Disney resort, so if the only other reason you want a car is to get from Epcot to DHS after the 10k to get a boarding group, you're better off using Uber or Lyft.
I'm actually trying to get there the day of the 5k first (Friday) - as I won't be running it. So yeah, hoping Minnie Van/Lyft will be an option - only worry is how much demand there will be. thx
 
will they be in high demand the morning after a 10k race?
want to get a ride on rise of resistance and also get to the expo...
I'm actually trying to get there the day of the 5k first (Friday) - as I won't be running it. So yeah, hoping Minnie Van/Lyft will be an option - only worry is how much demand there will be. thx

I’m super confused on the expo thing. I don’t know when you’re going to the expo or to HS.


Disney tells lies about when the first buses go. Remember that they have to run to get people to more park opening breakfasts. So they start earlier than the site says.

Plenty of people on FB say that you don’t have to be there super-early.


I’m all about a rental car, but even I can’t stomach prices I’m seeing for princess weekend. So I’m doing a one day rental through national or Alamo, dropping off at car care center near MK. Then another one day at the end of the trip.
 


I’m super confused on the expo thing. I don’t know when you’re going to the expo or to HS.


Disney tells lies about when the first buses go. Remember that they have to run to get people to more park opening breakfasts. So they start earlier than the site says.

Plenty of people on FB say that you don’t have to be there super-early.


I’m all about a rental car, but even I can’t stomach prices I’m seeing for princess weekend. So I’m doing a one day rental through national or Alamo, dropping off at car care center near MK. Then another one day at the end of the trip.
RoR on Friday morning and Expo on Friday morning... the day of the 5k,is when i wanted to go.

good to know about buses.. that helps, but i also did what you did... ie I got an early morning rental on friday from the Car Care center... and not for the fulk 4 days so i will have car for that day. should make it easier to get around on a busy friday.
 
RoR on Friday morning and Expo on Friday morning... the day of the 5k,is when i wanted to go.

good to know about buses.. that helps, but i also did what you did... ie I got an early morning rental on friday from the Car Care center... and not for the fulk 4 days so i will have car for that day. should make it easier to get around on a busy friday.

Wait, now I'm confused... which resort are you staying at and how are you planning to get to the car care center for an early Friday pick-up?

I'd think just taking an uber to DHS would be faster than somehow getting to the car care center early on Friday, picking up a rental car, driving to DHS, parking, then going through the lines to get into the park.

It's cool if you'd rather have the control of your own vehicle, but I'd recommend picking up the car the day before. :)
 
I would reiterate the comments above. You honestly don't need to be there that early to get a boarding gate. I went on RotR the Tuesday after marathon weekend. They opened security at 6.30 and got people through security extremely quickly. They didn't even bother getting people to scan fingers. The main advantage of being there super early is if you haven't go a FP for smugglers run or Slinky dog and were planning to queue for that first. As a lot of people decide to start queuing for entry to Toy Story land and Galaxy Edge while waiting for the official opening. Within 5 mins of opening, both rides had waiting times of 2hr!

You don't need a car to get to expo either. You can get there by Disney bus.

Honestly, if those are the only reasons for renting a car, I would save your money.
 
Wait, now I'm confused... which resort are you staying at and how are you planning to get to the car care center for an early Friday pick-up?

I'd think just taking an uber to DHS would be faster than somehow getting to the car care center early on Friday, picking up a rental car, driving to DHS, parking, then going through the lines to get into the park.

It's cool if you'd rather have the control of your own vehicle, but I'd recommend picking up the car the day before. :)
staying at coronado. gonna take the shuttle to the car care center at 6am....i fly in at 9pm so no way to pick night before and if i rent from airport then it costs me a total of $350....while a 2 day rental from alamo was $100...plus another 25 for parking one night...i return it saturday night
 
I would reiterate the comments above. You honestly don't need to be there that early to get a boarding gate. I went on RotR the Tuesday after marathon weekend. They opened security at 6.30 and got people through security extremely quickly. They didn't even bother getting people to scan fingers. The main advantage of being there super early is if you haven't go a FP for smugglers run or Slinky dog and were planning to queue for that first. As a lot of people decide to start queuing for entry to Toy Story land and Galaxy Edge while waiting for the official opening. Within 5 mins of opening, both rides had waiting times of 2hr!

You don't need a car to get to expo either. You can get there by Disney bus.

Honestly, if those are the only reasons for renting a car, I would save your money.
i realize i dont need a car for expo... but buses dont usually start till later and to beat the merch crowd it is best to get their early.... on marathon weekend i walked feom POP century the past 5 years to get there before buses even started running and hence got merch. i realize my chance at merch this year will be poor since i wont be there thursday morning, but friday morning... but still hope to get something and then go to parks....for $100 rental it was worth it cause I'd like to also drive around the area and explore
 
i realize i dont need a car for expo... but buses dont usually start till later and to beat the merch crowd it is best to get their early.... on marathon weekend i walked feom POP century the past 5 years to get there before buses even started running and hence got merch. i realize my chance at merch this year will be poor since i wont be there thursday morning, but friday morning... but still hope to get something and then go to parks....for $100 rental it was worth it cause I'd like to also drive around the area and explore

Buses start before the expo opens. The only time Uber is worth it is for day 1 of the expo, because a line forms early. But then you can just take the resort bus back. Friday there won't be a crowd at the expo since its been open a day. Uber to the expo is really cheap- like 6-8. Do not get a car for this reason alone. Same with RoR. And even better - just take the skyliner from Coronado to studios (you'll have to change "cars" but this is fast). That will be fastest option. But even if you went with uber ,you're looking at 6-8 again. Save your money.
 
Buses start before the expo opens. The only time Uber is worth it is for day 1 of the expo, because a line forms early. But then you can just take the resort bus back. Friday there won't be a crowd at the expo since its been open a day. Uber to the expo is really cheap- like 6-8. Do not get a car for this reason alone. Same with RoR. And even better - just take the skyliner from Coronado to studios (you'll have to change "cars" but this is fast). That will be fastest option. But even if you went with uber ,you're looking at 6-8 again. Save your money.
unfortunately buses do not start before expo opens... I've been 5 years in a row and each time expo opened from 30 to 60 minutes early. i realize the 2nd day won't be as good for merch, but it will be better than if i go with the major crowds to crossing fingers i can get something. not getting car just for that though... want it to visit area too... mostly for my girlfriends first expo and race
 

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